threeturn
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Posts posted by threeturn
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Here is my unit for Early Elementary and K.
Here is our preschool unit and lapbook from a couple of years ago.
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Not sure about a curriculum, but this may give you some ideas for science and math that can be adapted to homeschool. http://www.squidoo.com/project-based-activities
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Sorry it took me so long to get back here!
Thank you so much for all of the wonderful suggestions. Great stuff. I can feel an Amazon shopping spree coming on. :lol:
Though my plan was to stop with the solar system and only discuss stars in the context of our sun, I think we will expand out the study to include the constellations, galaxy and universe as well.
I appreciate the help!
Pam
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I second the thought that the 2yo might be part of the difficulty. I know mine is. Every time I sit on the couch to read he either comes up and wants to nurse (which I am slowly trying to discourage through the day) or insists that I read HIS books repeatedly. So, I have moved read alouds to the table. Everyone finds something to do with their hands -- coloring page, playdoh, toddler trays, etc and I can read and read and read. Sometimes the 2yo sits and does something and other times he runs in and out, but we don't have any of the lap problems. I've had to give up the perfect homeschooling moment of reading while snuggled on the couch, but it is working for us.
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I am planning a 4-6 week space unit for January. My kids are 6 and an almost 5 tag-along. We will be covering the sun, planets, Earth's moon, stars, and astronauts and space travel. Does anyone have any living book suggestions for our unit? I would love something along the lines of the Burgess Bird Book, but newer and for space. :D Informational fiction, biography and non-fiction are all good.
Also, if anyone knows of a good "experiment" book for this age that would be a plus too. It is hard to find space activities for this age group.
Thanks,
Pam
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Very well put Hotdrink. I blogged about this recently. I call us Us-Schoolers.
http://everydaysnapshots.blogspot.com/2011/11/how-we-became-us-schoolers.html
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We have a 2007 Sienna (8 seats), and I adore it! I could drive it forever, I think! We have had no problems with it at all. I would definitely recommend it!
:iagree:
Not too big and all doors work great. The 2008 has power doors on both sides. Love my power door on the passenger side, but I bought mine in 08 and wasn't going to buy new just for that.
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I've been perusing these K-2 math resources. In the Week Essentials PDFs there are some great ideas for math journals (for first grade anyway).
http://mathlearnnc.sharpschool.com/cms/One.aspx?portalId=4507283&pageId=5048438
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Thanks guys. Fortunately the paint easily washed off during our pumpkin floating science experiment today (we are really getting our money's worth from these pumpkins). They are perfectly clean, so I think I will give cooking a try.
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We painted our Halloween pumpkins with washable paints. Now instead of them going to waste I was wondering if I could cook and puree them. I was going to half them, roast them, and scoop out the insides. What do you think?
Thanks,
Pam
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I call it the show I hate to love. I just started "watching" it this season with DH. Mostly I surf the net and keep my eyes averted while I listen to the story and sneak peaks. This week's was a stunner.
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If I can get a list of the holiday books, I might just row them myself. I love holiday books and there's so much that can be explored with holiday studies.
Just wanted to let you know that the holiday FIAR manuals do not include books to row. There are simply ideas in there for the holidays. They are OK, but not knock your socks off. If you are looking for holiday picture books to row http://www.homeschoolshare.com has some good ones.
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Here is a fantastic Squidoo lens on the subject. http://www.squidoo.com/math-notebooking
I too have wanted to do them, but have yet to work it in. Off to read the lens again.
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I am not going to be any help to the OP because we love FIAR. If there is a day we don't feel like reading the book (rare) we just open it to the part we are talking about. I would pick and choose the topics from the manual that made the most sense and we always supplemented with extra activities, math, writing, reading and other language arts.
lorrainejmc - I could have written your post above. I went with open and go curriculum this year to "get serious." I have been bored out of my mind and feeling like I have to stick to that schedule. So as of Monday we are back to unit studies (trains next week because we are going to ride Thomas next weekend). I am having fun planning and I know they are going to learn tons next week. And if I need some time off from planning, we will just stick to the basics for a week or two.
Some things we are going to add that we did not do last year in K are a history timeline (using the one from Guesthollow) and narrations of the picture book selection and non-fiction go along books. I can't wait until Monday and I feel so free since I made this decision last week.
Pam
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That's interesting. In my book (Kindle edition), the section is called "More Catholic Unschoolers."
You are correct. I should have verified that. The intro to the section does explain that they use unschooling as well as other methods.
The book says over and over that unschooling means letting go of fear, but it seemed as if a lot of the women were ping-ponging between being anxious about not being "schooly enough," and being anxious about not being "unschooly enough."I've met very few homeschoolers who don't have fears about how they are teaching their children -- even ones who have been at it a very long time. If these ladies were totally confident, then I would be extremely suspicious. :)
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Well, the four families I referred to in the "back of the book" appeared in a section called "Unschooling and more." All of them, like the Tidal Homeschooler, spend some time unschooling and some time following other methods.
I don't agree that families in the book (or the author) are not doing unschooling as John Holt originally defined it. In fact, many of the chapters reminded me very much of the book Better Than School by Nancy Wallace, which I also read recently. Nancy was a contemporary of John Holt and a pioneer of the homeschooling movement. John often visited her family and came to her aid, advising her when she had to face the school board. While she considered herself unschooling it was certainly not radical unschooling as defined today. She sat with her kids and did planned work more days than not, yet she also followed their lead and allowed them time to pursue their own interests. It is a fascinating read and really makes me appreciate those who came before us and fought the establishment so we can do what we do.
You could also say they follow the Pat Ferenga definition of unschooling which is to "allow as much freedom as the parent can tolerate."
I have never understood why the labels mean so much? If these ladies want to call themselves unschoolers, that's ok with me. No one would call us unschoolers -- especially if they saw our curriculum list. I call us "us-schoolers." We just pick and choose and do what works for us in the methods that work for us.
Cheers,
Pam
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:bigear:
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I really like that article. Lissa reworked it for the book A Little Way of Homeschooling which is all about Catholics who unschool. The entire book was fantastic, but that essay and three more in the back of the book are from families like hers who don't consider themselves full unschoolers, but some kind of hybrid. There is one article there by Karen Edmisten and also by Faith who bills her family as "classical unschoolers" and is on the forums here some. I found those essays in the back of the book so helpful and refreshing.
Julie from Bravewriter also had a similar blog post out today. She called her style Rastafarian Homeschooling. :-) When she posted it on her Facebook page she commented about "putting the joy ahead of the stress." I think put the joy ahead of the stress is going to be my new mantra. No matter what we are doing -- structured, unstructured, sitting at the table or running in the world as long as we are putting the joy ahead of the stress all will be well.
Neat topic.
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I had noticed that before and just always thought it came from the emphasis that the LDS put on family. We had LDS neighbors who were the best folks. And yes, she scrapbooks.
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I put other because they wake me up when I would prefer we all sleep much later.
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The Legend of the Bluebonnet by Tomie dePaola. He has another NA themed one as well. I have a couplue more when I can get to the basket in the morning.
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http://www.learner.org/workshops/inquiry/about/overview.html
I don't know if this has been posted before or not. I have not watched it so don't know the materials, but from the description I do think many parts would be relevant to homeschoolers even though it was designed for a classroom setting. I would love to do this with a group and discuss implementing it at home. Is anyone else interested? Maybe we could set up a social group.
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Love this sale even if I hate the website. Two things I did last year to help me use the materials I purchased (some 20 books):
I didn't print most of the books. Instead my computer will search inside PDFs so I simply use the search function on the computer, enter a keyword of what we are studying, and any materials pop up. This works pretty well. Hope it can help someone else.
I mostly printed the math activity books that I bought. Instead of binding them together as books I printed one-sided and broke them down by topic. I then put the pages in my math curriculum teacher's binder behind the appropriate topic. So when we got to fractions, all the fraction ideas from the various books were right there. It has made is super easy and fun for us to use what I bought.
HTH,
Pam
Stupid pity party over the Kindle Fire
in General Education Discussion Board
Posted
Hold out for the iPad. You won't be sorry.